Introduction to art made in Western Europe since 1945, with a dual focus: How do works of art come to terms with the history of modernity? How do they reckon with changing circumstances in the present? How have painting and sculpture in certain moments succeeded or failed in remaining aesthetically and culturally vital? What happens when artists turn to “new media” (television, video, digital technologies)? What roles do museums and international exhibitions play in shaping artistic practice? How has art responded to and produced knowledge about the Holocaust, decolonization, migration, nuclear warfare, political violence, climate emergency?
